


Nightmares that Bleed into Reality

by HawkyBarton



Series: OTP and Fanfic Brigade (Prompts galore) [76]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Everyone Needs A Hug, I need a hug, M/M, Nightmares, Sadness, Teen!Clint, cliff-hangar ending, fix-it ish, i have no other tags, kid!Clint, prompt, protectve!Avengers, ranger!Phil, sorry not sorry for ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-23 20:55:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4891936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkyBarton/pseuds/HawkyBarton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint Barton was a 18 year old Avenger who was still to young to know how to work through the pain</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmares that Bleed into Reality

**Author's Note:**

> Anon asked: Prompt: 18 year old Clint. so everyone knows Clint has nightmares. Sometimes if they're really bad he'll crawl into bed with Thor or Steve or Tasha. A lot of times too JARVIS calls one of the Avengers to come to him bc he knows Clint won't go to them cuz he doesn't wanna bother them. He has a nightmare about Phil dying in the Rangers and he finds out on a mission so he freaks out and misses and its 'his fault' when the team does so death and screaming, sobbing Clint3

The Avengers as a whole were not known for how well their mental emotions were.

They all had lived long lives, and suffered the consequences because of it.

Their newest member, however, wasn't as well-versed with hiding his emotions as they were. At 18 years old, Clint tended to wear everything on his sleeve. Which wasn't a bad thing per se, but it sure did make the rest of the team feel vulnerable.

Now Clint Barton, in the same vein as the rest of the team, had nightmares. The problem with this was that the rest of the team had had years to get used to this fact. Not so much with Clint. His nightmares would absolutely _wreck_ him.

When Phil (Clint's adorably dorky, but damn hot Ranger boyfriend) was home, it would only take a few minutes for him to calm down because Phil's arms were tight around him in their bed (which made Clint feel safe).

But when Phil was on tour, it was a cluster fuck to get Clint back to a baseline.

Some nights when the nightmares weren't too bad, Clint would escape the confines of his room and go seek shelter somewhere. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for one of the team members to fall asleep alone, and wake up with Clint snuggled up against them.

However, the nights when the dreams were really bad? Clint would almost be comatose in fear, causing JARVIS to have to call in one of the Avengers to keep him company.

All in all it was a sad sight, but one that seemed to get better.

Until the night he dreams about Phil dying.

Clint woke up crying hysterically and since he didn't want to bother anyone, crawled into the shower with one of Phil's Captain America shirts (which smelled just like Phil) to keep him company.

20 minutes later, Natasha crawled in beside him and they cuddled together until they both fell asleep.

The next day was what really made everything worse though.

The Avengers were called into downtown New York to fight Doom and his Doombots alongside the Fantastic Four. Everything was going as expected when Clint got a call over his comm.

"Barton. Coulson went MIA 3 days ago, but they've received intel that he's been KIA. I'm sorry" Came the voice.

Clint's hand jerked and his shot went wide. The arrow missed the doombot he was aiming for, and because of this, the bot was able to slam into Steve and send the man flying.

Gasping, Clint was brought back to reality, and he began to take out the doombots with fervor, despite the tears on his cheeks and the cries of his teammates in his ears.

When the battle was over, Clint got down from his perch to run over to Steve. The older Avenger was completely fine, but that didn't stop Clint from sobbing his heart out.

This caused the team to look at each other in shock. Sure, Clint got pissed when he missed a shot (okay, it had only happened once before), but this reaction was ridiculous.

Thor, unable to stand the archer's tears, lifted Clint up and carried him to the quinjet as the team followed.

Placing him down inside the quinjet, Thor stood back.

"Clint, what's wrong?" Bruce asked in a gentle coo.

Clint sniffed, tears still streaming down his face. "I missed the shot and got Steve hurt and Phil is dead and... and... _I'm sorry!!"_ Clint wailed.

"Woah, woah, woah - Phil is _what?!?!_ " Tony asked incredulously.

 Clint took a shaky breath and rubbed the tears out of his eyes. "Someone told me he was declared KIA over the comms and then I missed the shot." Suddenly it really hit Clint that the love of his life was dead. Renewed wails started up as everyone did their best to comfort Clint. 

Nothing worked, of course. But they tried their best.

 

~

Two weeks later they had a beautiful funeral for Phil, and it was just what Phil had always wanted.

Clint was in tears the whole time, but was able to calm himself just long enough to give a short eulogy.

Three hours later they were back in the tower. Nobody talked, everyone still cut up over their loss. Phil may have been Clint's boyfriend, but he had become close friend with all of them. Nobody had though about losing one of their own, and now they didn't know what to do with themselves. 

The silence continued for days until Clint couldn't stand it anymore. 

They were all sitting in the kitchen one morning for breakfast when Clint broke the silence. 

"I was gonna ask him to marry me," Clint blurted out to everyone's shock. "I knew he was planning on doing it, so I wanted to ask him first to piss him off" Clint continued. 

Everyone opened their mouths to speak, but they were interrupted by a ghost.

"Damn, and here I thought I was being sneaky" the amused voice said from behind them.

Clint gasped and turned around in his seat.

**Author's Note:**

> (( You can prompt me if you wish for other fics, or for any ideas you may have about this fic at [ Hellogoodbye](http://hellogoodbye741.tumblr.com/ask) ))


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